Cornflower Witch

Chapter 248 The Mine Ravaged by the Corpse Dragon

"Oh, Tia, is that you?" Upon seeing the girl, Mylin's voice was full of surprise.

She stood up, looked around, found a familiar colleague to temporarily cover her shift, and then pulled Siltiah to the room behind the guild.

"Tiya, why are you back?" Although she didn't know the situation in the forest, as far as she knew, very few students from Jiaoshi City who went to the forest in the past returned, and even if they did, it was usually more than ten years later.

"Well, I took some time off recently, so I came back to visit." Hilti thought for a moment. Putting aside the fact that she had reached the third tier, that would be quite surprising and would require explaining a lot of things.

"Can I take leave from the woods? Never mind, let's not talk about that." Mylene shook her head.

“Scorched Stone City isn’t very peaceful right now. I’m fine staying in the Adventurers’ Guild, but what about the others?” Mylene thought for a moment.

"The lords of Antioch are very tyrannical. They love to pick fights with the rich and use them to extort money. Also, it can be dangerous for very beautiful girls."

If they were local guards, they might have many family members and relatives here, so they would be more cautious. But for these Antioch soldiers, since it's not their hometown, they don't feel much guilt for doing bad things. Besides, this is the general atmosphere in the army, so everyone is used to it and doesn't think it's a big deal.

"I understand." Hiltia nodded, thanking Mylene for the kind reminder.

The two then chatted about their recent situations. Hilti learned that Ray had gone to Forgestone City to study and was no longer in the area. Komia's parents had also moved away from Forgestone City some time ago to seek refuge in other cities.

In other words, none of her former friends were in Jiaoshi City anymore, which made the girl feel quite regretful.

However, they had agreed to meet again in five years. Only three years had passed, and there were still two years left. They thought that everyone would come back again. Thinking of this, the girl felt much better.

Afterwards, Hilti asked about the mine.

"How did you know that the mines on the back mountain had been reopened?" Mylene asked, somewhat surprised.

“However, this matter has indeed been discussed by many residents.” She thought for a moment and continued to tell Siltia about the relevant matters.

"That mine was actually left over from hundreds of years ago."

"Many people had already forgotten about it, but I came across the records while organizing the guild's internal documents."

"This place should originally be called Blackstone City because a black stone is produced in the nearby mountains. Although it has no special effects, its unique color makes it popular with some people, who use it as building material or furniture after mining it."

"But during mining operations one year, a hidden vein of minerals was discovered in the mountains. The lord then sent people to explore and continue digging downwards to extract the minerals inside."

"Some of them were metals, and a small amount of special gemstones, which were very valuable, so Viscount Schefeng's ancestors made a lot of money from them."

"However, in the later stages of mining, a dangerous skeletal dragon was unearthed in the mine, which caused a great crisis. That skeletal dragon was extremely powerful, probably at the fifth level. Its breath of deathly black fire burned the city, causing the deaths of many residents, the collapse of buildings, and even the bricks used to build the city walls were charred black."

"In order to deal with this disaster, Grand Duke Regas sought help from the Woodland Society. They dispatched a powerful expeditionary force, and after about a month of probing, fighting, planning, and fierce battles, they finally subdued the skeletal dragon."

"Although the Corpse Dragon died again, its remains and shattered dragon soul still filled the mine, bringing strange effects that prevent ordinary people from getting close."

"Later, for safety reasons and to erase the family's bad reputation, Viscount Xuefeng's ancestors sealed the mine and forbade the locals from discussing it anymore." "More than two hundred years have passed, and now no one remembers what happened in the mine, but the story of Blackstone City turning into Burntstone City has been passed down."

"It's a dragon!" Hiltiya was astonished after listening to Merlin's account of history.

Dragons almost always possess the 'Dragon Eye' attribute, which is the only powerful attribute that can be condensed only at the 'sixth rank'. Therefore, anything in the world that is related to 'dragons' is never weak.

Although it takes sixth rank for a biological entity to condense into a 'Dragon Eye', it does not mean that lower-ranking products or life forms do not exist in the 'Dragon Eye', because the nature of the entity can also deteriorate and regress.

For example, a powerful dragon that was a 'sixth-tier' in life may become a skeleton dragon or a dragon soul ghost after death. Its strength will decrease significantly, and at this time, it may develop a 'fifth-tier' 'dragon eye' attribute.

There are also dragon materials such as 'heart', 'eyeballs', and 'scales'. These materials may wear down and weaken over time, thus gradually decreasing in rank and resulting in 'third-rank' and 'fourth-rank' dragon materials.

She never imagined that Jiaoshi City had such a history. No wonder some of the old bricks and stones at the corners of the city wall were so charred. She thought at the time that some special process had been used to make them look like that.

"Won't it be dangerous for them to start mining now?" Hiltiya thought of the people she had rescued a few days ago.

"Of course it's dangerous."

"Although the residual effects of the minerals in the mine have gradually dissipated over the past two hundred years, they have still caused great damage to ordinary people. Staying there for too long will definitely shorten their lifespan," Mylin said sadly.

“In the past few months, many residents have heard about the high mortality rate in underground mining, so everyone is afraid of being caught and forced to work in the mines.”

"I don't know when this will end. If it continues like this, I'll have to consider moving away from here," Mylin said sadly.

"I understand, thank you for telling me this, Sister Mylin."

"Okay, you can just stay in Jiaoshi City for a while and don't stay too long." Mylin then gave Xilutiya some more instructions before letting the girl leave.

Back on the main street, Hilti looked at the familiar shops along the way, then stopped and looked toward the castle at the end of the street, which was located in the north of the city. Behind the castle were the rolling mountains and a winding path leading into them.

That must be the direction leading to the mine, Hilti thought.

As darkness fell, Hilti didn't look for a place to sleep tonight. Instead, she changed into a dark gray trench coat to cover her body, veiled her face with a light gauze, and moved nimbly through the shadows of the city.

After a day of practice, she became more and more proficient in using the [Concealment Technique], and there was a faint trend of her leveling up to Lv.3. If she had the opportunity to learn the [Silent Concealment Technique] in the future, she would be able to combine the two abilities into one and create the [Stealth Technique].

Although she hasn't learned the "Silent Concealment Technique," she is relatively light in weight and wears light clothing, so she moves with minimal noise, and ordinary soldiers wouldn't notice her.

Slowly, Hilti overcame the obstacles, reached the edge of the city wall, and jumped down. She tapped her toes against the wall several times to dissipate the impact, and finally landed lightly on the grass.

At this moment, she raised her head in the darkness, her gaze fixed on the path leading to the back mountain, and her figure gradually approached the legendary mine.

(End of this chapter)